Turkana Basin Institute Leadership Update

September 30, 2025

Dear Stony Brook faculty and staff,

I am writing to share that Dino Martins will step down from his position as director of the Turkana Basin Institute to turn his full time and attention to his research. His last day as director will be October 20, 2025.

I am deeply grateful to Dino for his leadership of TBI, and to the TBI International Advisory Board for their continued support and guidance. Founded by Richard Leakey in partnership with Stony Brook University in 2005, the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) provides a sophisticated network to support the research of scientists and students across Stony Brook and from around the world at the field campuses at TBI-Turkwel and TBI-Ileret in northwestern Kenya, each of which comprise 15 to 20 major buildings that provide accommodation and dining facilities for as many as 60 scientists and students with a permanent staff of about 40. Work at the field campuses is supported by an administrative office in Nairobi, by TBI’s Air Turkana, and the International Academic Headquarters at SBU. 

In his time as director of TBI, Dino, in collaboration with the TBI Kenya and TBI Stony Brook teams, has led the development of new programs in aquatic ecology, genomics, applied research, and astronomy, including establishing a new field school in collaboration with the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) program. He has expanded and supported the development of professional support staff, including in human resources, finance, logistics, and field operations. And of course, TBI’s core strengths as an international leader in paleontology, human evolution, and archaeology remain fundamental to the institute and its researchers.

Dino is internationally recognized for his evolutionary biology and entomological research, biodiversity conservation work, and natural history writing. He is widely known as one of Kenya’s leading biological scientists. In his Turkana Basin research, Dino has described new species of bees, including some of the most ancient lineages of known bees and the discovery of genera previously not recorded in Africa. He is a co-PI of the Turkana Genome Project that brings together dozens of international scientists to look at the complex interactions among human genes, the environment, and adaptation in a world that is increasingly mismatched between our biology and technology/culture.

After consultation with the TBI International Advisory Board, in accordance with the TBI operating agreement, Stony Brook will appoint an interim director to lead the institute while we prepare for and conduct an international search for the next director. If you would like to submit a nomination for the interim director, you may do so using this nomination form by 5 p.m. (EST) Friday, October 3. Nominations will be reviewed and the interim director will be appointed in the coming weeks. Serving as interim director does not preclude eligibility to be considered as a candidate for director. Additional details on an international search for the next director will be shared at a later date. 

Sincerely,

Carl

 

Carl Lejuez
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost